The present invention relates generally to agricultural machinery and, more particularly, to improvements to balers for harvested crops. The present application pertains specifically to a system to monitor and control the operational functions of a baler.
Big square balers have a pick-up device, a feeding channel with feeding elements and optional cutting elements, a baling chamber with a baling ram for a channel baler, side-limiting walls of the baling chamber, a discharge device, a tying device, an associated operator interface, sensors, an inspection device and a drive means.
Such a baler is disclosed in the German Patent 44 42 479. The systems described in that document refer to the control and regulation of normal working sequences in a baler. Balers are equipped with engaging and disengaging overload clutches, which allow the operator of the baler to maximize the baler's theoretical output potential, without risking idle time due to replacement of shear pins.
It would be advantageous to utilize the overload clutches in a way that prevents clogging of the baler. Furthermore, it would be desirable to integrate such engaging and disengaging overload clutches in a monitoring and controlling system for balers. In addition, there is no means for monitoring other functional elements, such as the header in the baler. However, it should be possible to couple the system with different terminals for other functional elements of the baler.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a monitoring and controlling system which overcomes one of more of above mentioned deficiencies or meets one or more of the desired advantages.